French elections: 'no one cares about farming any more'

Jon Henley is travelling through France to hear stories in the runup to the elections. In Neuvy-le-Barrois, in the central Cher département, he meets farmers for whom no one but Nicolas Sarkozy will do
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French farmers have traditionally voted for rightwing candidates to look after their interests. This time, Nicolas Sarkozy appears to be getting their vote, at least in central Cher. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

Veronique and Thierry Minard raise Charolais cattle; they have a herd of 120 breeding cows in the small village of Neuvy-le-Barrois in the central Cher département, not far from Nevers. For them, the choice of president is not a difficult one.

"Neither candidate has so much as mentioned agriculture in their manifesto, which hurts," says Veronique. "But in France, it's always been the right that has defended the interests of farmers. Jacques Chirac was great for that; he made a genuine point of it."

Nicolas Sarkozy, dubbed President Bling-Bling, the couple admit, is not quite in the same mould as his predecessor, who seemed to take real pleasure – and certainly won plenty of votes – slapping cows on their backsides and downing red wine with farmers.

But subsidies, mainly under the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP), account for around 30% of their turnover, and life would be very tough without them (as thing stand, Veronique and Thierry bring home little more than the minimum wage – though they point out that their outgoings, particularly on food, are significantly lower than most people's.)

In the living room of readers Michael and Dorothy Atkinson, whose neighbours they are, Veronique and Thierry say they badly need someone to bat for them in Brussels, and feel Sarkozy will do that far more effectively than François Hollande.

"The CAP is due to be renegotiated next year," says Thierry. "It's important to feel supported. Sarkozy gets on well with Angela Merkel; she doesn't like Hollande. It's true plenty of people don't like Sarkozy; he grates on them. Maybe the right would have been better with another candidate. But for us, there's no real hesitation."

In fact in most elections, around 60% of the 110-odd voters in this this mainly agricultural community tend to back the conservative candidate. Manu Faure, a technician in a specialised metal-forging company in nearby Nevers, and his wife, Rachel, who works as a supervisor at an agriculture college, are no exception.

"I don't think either is a very strong candidate," says Rachel. "Neither has the stature, the standing, of a Pompidou, a De Gaulle, even a Mitterrand. And their programmes aren't clear; really short on detail. We did look seriously at the other candidates, but there's always something: that idea of Marine Le Pen's and the Front National to pull France out of the EU, return to the franc, for example. Completely ridiculous; just not credible."

And Sarkozy has "certainly disappointed", says Manu. "He annoys people. He's made bad errors of judgment in some of his appointments. Mainly, though, he promised five years ago that hard work would be properly rewarded. We value our social security, pensions, healthcare system, don't get us wrong. But there needs to be a better balance. Too many people get too much for doing too little. Hard work has to pay."

So Sarkozy has their vote; in part, too, because Hollande "is just too soft", says Rachel. "He doesn't command respect. I can't see him uniting a team, directing anything. Particularly faced with the scale of the crisis the world is in." If Hollande is elected, says Manu, a great deal will depend on who he appoints as prime minister, and the risks will be high: "We could end up like Spain, or Greece."

Martine and Jean-Luc Rossi are dairy farmers, producing cheese and cream from their cattle and 50 goats. They sell their products from the farm and at local markets, rising at 4 or 4.30am on market days. "It's very, very hard work," says Martine. "Pretty much 365 days a year; we can only have time off when our son can come over for a day, to stand in."

Money, too, is extremely tight: "We don't go out, hardly ever. There have been times when we've seriously wondered how we were going to get through the year." But they'll still be voting for Sarkozy on Sunday; his style is "direct and natural, I have no problem with that," says Martine, and he has piloted France "relatively well through this crisis. We're really not in such bad shape; unemployment here has risen much less than in other countries."

The one aspect of Hollande's programme that tempted Jean-Luc was his promise to reduce the retirement age for those who started work very young.

"But if it's to retire on less, what's the point?" he says. "Sarkozy may be very far from our world, but none of the others have farmers' interests at heart either, and with us it's about principles.

"In any case, we have to face up to it: agriculture doesn't count for very much in France any more."